Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien (front, left) welcomes Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (front, right) at the Noi Bai International Airport on May 3 morning. (Photo: VNA)

After landing at the Noi Bai Airport, the Luxembourg delegation left for a trip to Ha Long Bay in northeastern Quang Ninh province.

On May 4, PM Bettel is scheduled to attend an official welcome ceremony and hold talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh. The two PMs will witness the signing of some cooperation agreements between their countries’ ministries and sectors and meet with the press to inform about their talks’ outcomes.

Prior to the welcome ceremony, the Luxembourg leader will pay respect to late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and visit the monument to Vietnamese heroes and martyrs and the memorial site dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi.

He and PM Chinh will also visit the Temple of Literature and the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

In addition, PM Bettel will meet with National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and take part in some activities in Ho Chi Minh City, including a Vietnam-Luxembourg business forum and a meeting with the city’s leaders.

Vietnam and Luxembourg set up diplomatic ties on November 15, 1973. As of March 2023, Luxembourg had invested 2.6 billion USD in 64 projects in Vietnam, ranking third among 24 EU members and 17^th among 139 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation.

In 2022, bilateral trade stood at 187.1 million USD, rising 69% year on year. The figure included 130.14 million USD worth of Vietnam’s exports and 56.96 million USD worth of imports from Luxembourg.

During PM Chinh’s official visit to Luxembourg in December last year, the two sides inked a memorandum of understanding on promoting trade and business dialogue between the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, along with a cooperation deal between the Vietnam Stock Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.